Venezuelan state television broadcast footage of Chavez being greeted at the airport by Vice President Elias Jaua and other ministers.

Chavez told the assembled ministers: "I thank you for coming so quickly to this meeting."

Chavez underwent surgery in Cuba on June 20 to remove a cancerous tumor. He hasn't said what type of cancer he has been diagnosed with or specified where exactly it was located, saying only that it was in his pelvic region. He says chemotherapy is necessary to ensure cancer cells don't reappear.